Origins of background signal effects in all-metallic non-local spin valves

The non-local spin valve (NLSV) is a useful device for studying spin transport at nanoscopic dimensions, with potential technological applications. Despite this appeal, background signals, unrelated to spin diffusion, often hinder the interpretation of spin signals in NLSVs and could compromise performance in future devices. In this paper, we comprehensively investigate these background signals in all-metallic NLSVs fabricated from a variety of ferromagnetic (FM; N{i}₈₀F{e}₂₀ , Fe, Co) and nonmagnetic (NM; Al, Cu) metals. We demonstrate that a background signal emerges in AC measurements, with contributions from both current spreading and thermoelectric effects, with a complex dependence on both temperature and FM injector-detector separation. Despite the complexity of these dependencies, we demonstrate excellent agreement with three-dimensional finite-element modelling that accounts for current-spreading and thermoelectric effects, across a wide range of temperatures, FM separations, and FM/NM pairings. This approach additionally offers a means to estimate the Seebeck coefficients for the tested FM/NM pairings, providing further insight into the charge and heat flow in such nanoscopic spintronic devices. Published by the American Physical Society 2024